Exhibition catalogue published 2024
The Saint Louis Art Museum’s iconic painting Bathers with a Turtle is the focus of this exhibition catalogue. Matisse and the Sea brings together related works by Matisse in a range of media (paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, prints, textiles, paper cutouts) and objects that influenced the picture, including African sculpture and painting by Cezanne. It also includes revealing conservation analysis. The book examines the evolution of the picture, exploring Matisse’s appropriation of a range of sources as he sought to develop an experimental and novel visual language. It also traces the afterlife of the picture, looking at the work’s impact on Matisse’s later imagery of bathers and the sea, as well as its collector and exhibition history in Germany and the USA. The exhibition catalogue will present a new view of this seminal painting and its context.
Authors: Simon Kelly, John Klein, and Ellen McBreen with Nichole N. Bridges, Abigail Yoder, Lacy Murphy, and Melissa Gardner
Details: 144 pages, 100 color illustrations; 9.4 x 11.4 inches, hardcover. Published by Saint Louis Art Museum. Production and design by Hirmer Publishers
